Johnny got a stay of execution!
The new Year and the new Millennium opened with the
news we had hoped so much to hear!
On Wed. Dec. 29th Johnny Paul Penry got a stay of
the execution which had been scheduled for Jan. 13th 2000. As a matter of fact, the panel
of judges of the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals decided to set a hearing for Feb. 10th
in New Orleans. At that hearing Penry's lawyers will present arguments supporting a
permanent stay of execution The appeal to be presented by Johnny's lawyers signals first
of all his evident mental retardation. It also asks the court to consider Penry's
"terribly abusive" background, as well as questions about his sentencing and how
police extracted a signed confession.
We see this as a remarkable outcome, or better
still, as a real miracle.
This is why we want to thank all those who,
concretely and in different ways, joined us in the attempt to save his life. We invite
everyone to continue every effort to reach our goal: to obtain the commutation of the
death-sentence into a life-sentence.
We also thank all those who joined our prayers for
Johnny's life and the life of the other inmates on death row, and we thank all those who
will do that in the days to come.
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